The VELUX Group and Little Sun are excited to present Olafur Eliasson,Patricia Urquiola, Ije Nwokorie, Melody Sarudzayi Joachim and Koyo Kouoh as members of the final jury who will oversee the Natural Light Design Competition, celebrating VKR Holding’s 75th anniversary. These five internationally recognized jury members within the fields of architecture, design and art will together select the winning design of a special edition solar lamp.

In November 2014 the social business Little Sun and the VELUX Group joined forces to launch a design competition inviting young design students to create a special edition solar lamp in honor of VELUX’s 75th anniversary. Utilising Little Sun’s micro-entrepreneurial distribution model, the Natural Light project will donate an initial supply of solar lamps to kick-start distribution in off-grid African communities at affordable prices.

The VELUX Group and Little Sun are happy to announce the jury for the Natural Light Design Competition. The jury consists of exciting leaders within their respective fields:

Olafur Eliasson, who chairs the jury, founded Little Sun, a social business and global project that is bringing sustainable, clean solar light to areas of the world without electricity. In addition to Little Sun, Eliasson is best known for his inspiring art installations around the world such as The weather project at London’s Tate Modern (2003), Your black horizon at the Venice Biennale (2005), and the New York City Waterfalls (2008).

Olafur Eliasson says: “I am extremely pleased to be chairing the jury of Natural Light. It is a great opportunity to connect with the next generation of talented design students. They are young people with the muscle and energy needed to find a response to the global problems we are facing. Great and innovative design can really make a difference for the future!”

The jury will review the submitted designs in March 2015, and the winning design will be announced in May 2015.

The Natural Light Design Competition

For nearly 75 years, the VELUX Group has worked to improve living conditions around the world by bringing daylight into people's homes. To mark this milestone, the VELUX Group has partnered with Little Sun, a social business and global project founded by internationally renowned artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, to improve living conditions for people in areas of the world without electricity.

The global competition invites design students from around the world to bring sustainable light to off-grid areas in Africa by designing a Little Sun special edition solar lamp. 29,000 units of the winning design will be produced and a substantial amount of lamps will be sold in off-grid regions of Africa at locally affordable prices.